The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

New kids’ gallery at deCordova explores art, science, and nature

Children investigate Flint’s Pond at the deCordova.

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum announces The Lab, a new interactive gallery on the museum’s fourth floor designed to explore the relationship between art, science, and nature. Changing several times each year in conjunction with new exhibitions, visitors will experience immersive installations, creative building activities, nature investigations, and a topical reading area.

The Lab’s first theme is Pond, inspired by deCordova’s current exhibition Bodies in Water and the neighboring Flint’s Pond. “We’re excited to introduce our newest interactive and interdisciplinary gallery where children and their families can experiment, play, and take ideas home with them,” said Emily Silet, head of educational exhibitions. “We hope our young visitors return again and again to The Lab this fall and winter to meet new friends and observe the dramatic seasonal changes at Flint’s Pond.”
The Lab: Pond, which takes a close look at pond ecosystems, features a variety of activities and experiences:
  • Walk-in camera obscura: To experience this naturally occurring phenomenon, visitors enter a darkened room where a simple hole in the window covering allows the view of the park and pond from outside to project into The Lab purely through the magic of optics (see image here).
  • Building table: Children can build “ice” sculptures using Lego bricks, wooden blocks, and Magna-Tiles ICE.
  • Drawing station: Visitors are asked to consider the pond life that exists both over and under the water in Flint’s Pond throughout the year through drawing or writing.
  • Reading lab: Carefully selected story and scientific books about Henry David Thoreau and pond life are available in a cozy reading nook overlooking Flint’s Pond through floor-to-ceiling windows equipped with binoculars.
  • Pond water display: Brilliant images of microscopic pond water samples allow visitors to see what can be found in water when it’s magnified.
  • Historical panel: An illustrated sign describes both Henry David Thoreau’s and Julian deCordova’s relationship to Flint’s Pond.
In the spring The Lab will begin a new theme, Air, in conjunction with deCordova’s exhibition Sculpting with Air: Ian McMahon and Jong Oh, opening April 20, 2018.

News acorns

First Parish unveils renovations at open house

Curious about what’s been happening with the church restoration in Lincoln Center? The First Parish in Lincoln welcomes the entire community on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 9 a.m.–12 p.m. to visit the restored sanctuary and renovated Stearns Room at 4 Bedford Road. Drop in for refreshments, conversation and information. Construction began in September 2016 after much debate.

Art opening and gallery walk at L-S

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will host an art opening and gallery walk on Monday, Nov. 20 from 6–7 p.m., followed by a presentation at 7 p.m. The gallery walk will include a guided tour of the many pieces hanging throughout the school building, including an introduction of Dana Chandler’s collage art and Hakim Raquib’s digital photo collage. The Math Mobile will be hanging in the Math Department light well, and the Community Mural was supported by artist Alex Cook, whose “You Are Loved” project strives to bring messages of affirmation and support to school buildings and other public spaces throughout the country.

Music will be provided by L-S students. The event is made possible by the Ogden Trust, SERF, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Lincoln Cultural Council, the Sudbury Cultural Council, and the L-S Parents Organization.

Contra dance on Thanksgiving night

Dance off some of that turkey and stuffing at Lincoln’s annual Thanksgiving Night Contra Dance on Thursday, Nov. 23 from 7–10 p.m. in the Smith gym featuring caller Chris Ricciotti, and musicians Amy and Jonathan Larkin (former Lincoln residents, returning for a comeback performance this year). Tickets are $6 for adults and students, $4 for children 10 years and under All ages and abilities are welcome.

Drumlin Farm hosts art and nature event

On the day after Thanksgiving, join Massachusetts artists at the Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary for the annual “Giving Thanks for Nature and Our Senses,” a family outdoor art experience on Friday, Nov. 24 from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Engage your senses on a nature walk with interactive artist demonstrations, enjoy art installations throughout the farmyard, and make your own nature-inspired crafts. Highlights include:

  • Music with the Grey Whisker Pickers
  • Wildlife sketching
  • Natural sculpture by William Turville
  • Nature crafts workshop with Musketaquid artists
  • Installations and gallery artwork by local sculptors, painters, and photographers
  • Storytelling with Ron McAdow

Cohosted by Mass Audubon and Musketaquid Arts & Environment. Admission is $9 for adults, $6 for seniors and children age 2–13, and free for Mass Audubon members and Lincoln residents.

Now there’s coloring for adults, too

The Lincoln Public Library is starting a coloring club for adults starting on Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 11 a.m.–noon in the Tarbell Room. Come spend some peaceful time coloring your concerns away. No experience required; all materials will be provided by the library. For ages 16 and up. For more information, please contact Robin Rapoport at rrapoport@minlib.net.

Hospice facility on track to open this winter

The Care Dimensions Hospice House on Winter Street in Lincoln and Waltham. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

The Care Dimensions hospice facility on Winter Street is running a bit behind but is expected to open to patients in early 2018.

Construction started in late summer 2016 on the 18-bed, 27,500-square-foot inpatient hospice facility will provide a home-like setting for terminally ill patients who need hospital-level care for pain and symptom management where hospice physicians, nurses and support staff can provide 24-hour care. Work is expected to finish next month, followed by permitting and Department of Public Health certification.

“We haven’t had an deviation or changes” from the project schedule aside from minor delays, said Jean Graham, senior director of marketing. “Everything’s gone along exactly as planned.”

The company’s original proposal was for 42,000-square-foot with 20 beds but was scaled back after objections from neighbors. To shrink the footprint, much of the building plan went from one floor to two, and some of the patient rooms on the second floor will have walk-out patios overlooking Winter Street, Graham said. Each floor will have a dining and kitchen area for families, and the grounds will feature a remembrance/healing garden.

The facility is using a construction entrance on the Lincoln side of the town line, but once it opens, the primary entrance will be in Waltham with the Lincoln entrance used only for emergencies.

Care Dimensions is in the process of hiring and training staff for the new facility and is also recruiting volunteers for things like patient visits (especially with pets), working at the reception desk, operating a snack cart, flower arranging, etc. For more information, see the company’s volunteer web page or call 888-283-1722.

Roundup of other topics at State of the Town

Below is a roundup of State of the Town issues not already covered this week in the Squirrel. Links to previous articles:

Proposed plastic bag/bottle ban

The Lincoln-Sudbury Environmental Club is continuing discussions with Lincoln committees and businesses in an effort to build support for a ban on retail sales and distribution of single-use plastic grocery bags and plain water bottles holding less than one liter. The students’ presentation outlined the environmental hazards of unrecycled plastic bags and bottles, as well as retail alternatives such as water sold in disposable aluminum bottle or milk-carton-type containers. They will also explore creating a town “tap map” such as the one in Concord (which enacted its own bottle ban in 2012) showing businesses and public facilities where reusable water bottles can be refilled.

The students plan to submit a citizens’ petition for a vote at the 2018 Annual Town Meeting. A similar petition vote was withdrawn in 2017 after local business opposition. At the November 4 State of the Town meeting, Lincoln resident Jim White, co-owner of Lincoln Kitchen and Trails’ End as well as their sister restaurant in Concord, lauded the students’ effort to raise awareness, “but the difficulty I have with them is the solution, especially in Lincoln. It imposes a financial burden on two businesses [Trail’s End and Donelan’s], and I think that’s not fair.” White suggested more “broadly based solutions” such as public education and publicly available water refill sites.

Recreational marijuana

The Board of Selectmen is appointing a committee to study and make recommendations on regulations for recreational marijuana businesses that might be interested in operating in Lincoln. The state’s Cannabis Control COmmission expects to establish license regulations by March 2018, tough Lincoln has approved a moratorium until November 2018. The issue first came up for discussion at the 2015 State of the Town meeting.

Expanding the Lincoln Historic District

Historic District Commission (HDC) chair Andrew Glass outlined a proposal to expand the Lincoln Historic District by about one-third to include Modern houses on a voluntary basis. The proposal is a joint project of the HDC and Friends of Modern Architecture. There will be a public forum on Jan. 9, 2018 in preparation for a Town Meeting vote in March.

The town has hundreds of homes in the Modern style dating from 1937 to the 1970s, including the Gropius House and numerous Deck houses. There are at least 21 Modern homeowners who are interested in joining the district, according to Glass’ handout. Owners of Historic District houses have some restrictions on exterior renovations that are visible to the public. Assessor’s Office data  indicates that there is “very little impact one way or another” in terms of sales prices for Historic District homes, he said.

Mothers Out Front and gas leaks

The Lincoln chapter of Mothers Out Front presented information about the negative climate effects from leaks from natural gas lines. The group called attention to the issue last spring by installing hand-knitted scarves and posters at the sites of some of the 40 known leaks in town.

Mothers Out Front plans to introduce a resolution at the 2018 Annual Town Meeting calling for the “rapid repair and elimination of all gas leaks in Lincoln.” Public utilities are not currently required to pay for repairs of gas leaks on public streets, but the group is working with them to identify and fix “super-emitters,” or the 7 percent of gas leaks that emit 50 percent of the lost gas into the atmosphere.

“Let’s Make Lincoln a Welcoming, Safe Town”

A group that started as a movement to make Lincoln a “sanctuary town” in response to Trump administration threats to undocumented immigrants has will propose a resolution based on the one passed in Newton earlier this year. The measure would prohibit town law officials including police form assisting federal authorities in detaining people on the basis of their immigration status.

“A lot of people without proper papers are absolutely terrified but not willing to ask for help from local authorities” because they fear deportation, said resident Peter Pease. “We think we need to make some kind of statement to help people relax and have the town act lawfully and respect each person’s dignity.”

South Lincoln revitalization ideas gathering steam

An aerial perspective of what the green might look like (click to enlarge).

Major construction projects involving the Lincoln School and a community center attracted much of the limelight at the State of the Town meeting, but a third more modest project may also come to pass: revitalizing South Lincoln, piece by piece.

Several past studies by the town have consistently identified a desire for the area to be a “vibrant, walkable and sustainable village… but to be honest, not a lot of progress has been made over the years,” Margaret Olson of the South Lincoln Planning Implementation Committee (SLPIC) said at the November 4 town-wide meeting. Now, however, ideas are sprouting from SLPIC’s project teams for wayfinding, the MBTA station, placemaking, and village planning and zoning. Suggestions, discussion, and pictures are available on an interactive website at at courb.co/lincoln.

One of the goals of the Placemaking Team is revitalizing the green space tucked into the southeast corner of Donelan’s. The Rural Land Foundation, which owns the property, commissioned a study by Concord landscape architect Lemon Brooke LLC of how the space could be made more enjoyable and useful for the public. Their report includes illustrations of ideas for seating and a play area to replace the “tot lot” on the other side of a brushy area close to Lincoln Woods.

The underutilized green next to Donelan’s.

The town recently learned that it was turned down for a $50,000 matching grant from MassDevelopment to fund the work (which would cost a total of about $100,000). The SLPIC Placemaking Team will exploring other possible funding sources such as grants, crowdfunding or the possible use of Community Preservation Act funds, said Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney.

The Wayfinding Team will help solve the problem that “when you come to town for one thing, you don’t know other things are there,” said Olson, who is also chair of the Planning Board. Part of the $400,000 Complete Streets grant that the town recently received will help fund signs and informational kiosks in South Lincoln as well as roadway markings and other measures improve pedestrian, transit and bicycle circulation around Lincoln Station.

The Planning and Zoning Team is working on drafting new regulations to encourage a mix of housing and commercial uses in South Lincoln and will present them for a vote at a special town meeting in November 2018, Olson said. SLPIC has also commissioned a study of the DPW site on Lewis Street with an eye to possibly consolidating or moving some of its functions.

The MBTA team is thinking about improvements to the commuter rail station, which has inadequate signage, no passenger shelters or bike amenities, and is not ADA-compliant. Olson noted that the MBTA is under pressure to improve train travel times, and a handicapped-accessible platform such as the one in West Concord would make passenger boarding and alighting much faster. It’s also almost impossible under current conditions to get a bike onto the train “unless you’re pretty young and pretty strong,” Olson remarked.

News acorns

Dolls on sale as holiday gifts to benefit METCO

The Lincoln METCO Coordinating Committee will have a table in front of Verrill Farm at 11 Wheeler Rd. in Concord on Saturday, Nov. 11 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. to sell dolls and doll gift baskets, furniture and accessories for the holidays. The American Girl, Pleasant Company American Girl, and vintage porcelain and other unique dolls were all donated by the generous people of Lincoln, Carlisle, Concord, Acton, Sudbury, Lexington, Bedford, Weston, and Newton. 100% of the proceeds go toward enrichment programs and opportunities for the METCO-enrolled children in the Lincoln Public Schools.

Film on teenage prescription drug abuse on Tuesday

If Only, a short film about the dangers of teenage prescription drug abuse, will be shown on Tuesday, Nov. 7 in the Lincoln-Sudbury auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The event introduction will feature co-writ​er​ and co-producer Jim Wahlberg of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which produced the film. After the screening​,​ there will be a panel discussion featuring members of local law enforcement, former L-S students currently in recovery​, ​a​nd​ mental health workers. Come ask questions of the panel as we attempt to understand how this danger is impacting our communities and what we can all do together to fight it. Tickets are free, but organizers are asking people to register online so they can get a sense of how many people to expect.

“The Emoji Movie” screening at library

Kids are invited to watch the movie The Emoji Movie (PG) at the Lincoln Public Library on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Hidden inside a smartphone, the bustling city of Textopolis is home to all emojis. During their travels through other apps, Gene and his emoji friends discover a great danger that could threaten their phone’s very existence.

Panel discussion on kids in nature

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust invites residents to a panel representation and discussion on “Kids in Nature” on Sunday, Nov. ​12 from 4–6 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Hear from education experts about how they stimulate a connection between children and youth and their natural surroundings, and the resulting positive benefits. Advice and resources will be shared, and there will be a Q&A period.​ Jeffrey Perrin, associate professor of psychology at Lesley University, will give opening remarks. Panelists will be:

  • Jill Canelli, director, Mass Audubon Drumlin Farm Community Preschool
  • Mairead Curtis, science and engineering curriculum coordinator, Lincoln Public Schools
  • Wendy Matusovich, executive director, Farrington Nature Linc
  • Katherine Parisky, Ph.D., associate head and science teacher, Birches School

More information is available at lincolnconservation.org.​

Farmer’s market invites vendors

Lindentree Farm will hold a farmer’s market at Codman Community Farms on Saturday, Nov. 11 from 9:30 a.m–1 p.m. and there are still spaces left for people who would like to sell their wares, crafts, goods made in certified kitchens, small projects for kids to do who are passing through, etc. Those interested should email Moira at lindentreecsa@gmail.com.

Tull replaces Hedgerow at next LOMA event

Anna Huckabee Tull will be the featured performer on Monday, Nov. 13, replacing Hedgerow. An award-winning singer/songwriter and a psychologist, Anna has appeared on TEDx talks and TV concerts but rarely in live performances. Mickey Zibello will back her on guitar and vocals. Her latest album, The Days of Your Opening, is a companion to her new book, Living the Deeper Yes.

Architects ask for reactions to school and community center possibilities

The current school campus showing when various sections were built.

(Editor’s note: Check back tomorrow for more coverage of the State of the Town meeting.)

At Saturday’s State of the Town meeting, residents began offering feedback on six concept drawings for a reconfigured Lincoln School as well as some photos of community center ideas.

The school campus drawings by Ewing-Cole and SMMA Architects represented only ideas for where various parts of the school could be located relative to each other on campus, rather than actual building outlines and walls, explained SMMA’s Joel Seeley. The presentation also did not address parking, fields and roadways, and it intentionally looked at a mostly new or completely new buildings.

All six designs had some features in common:

  • Academic hubs organized by grade level in for PreK–4 and by team teaching mode for grades 5–8.
  • Separate entrances for PreK, K–4, and 5–8.
  • Classrooms as well as breakout spaces for students groups of varying sizes and abilities in each hub.
  • Facilities for “specials” (art, music, science, and maker spaces) located close to the hubs.
  • A single dining commons and kitchen for the entire school.

The concepts are categorized in three groups according to whether the school building is concentrated in the current “L” configuration (Group A), or on the north or west side of the ballfield (Groups B and C). Some distinguishing features:

  • A1 — Retains the two gyms and auditorium, and is closest in shape to the current school.
  • A2 — Follows the same basic shape but in a curved rather than L-shaped fashion, with two new gyms and the existing auditorium.
  • B1 — A northern focus with five two-story linear classroom hubs, retaining and enclosing the Reed Gym and auditorium.
  • B2 — An all-new building on the north side, with a gym and theater space next to each other but separated from the rest of the school by a commons area to demarcate school and public uses.
  • C1 — A western focus having the clearest plan for two separate schools in one. Includes a new gym and a glassed-in or covered walkway to the existing auditorium.
  • C2 — A western focus with a ring of angled hubs around a central piazza and a new gym between the classrooms and the auditorium.

The concepts and explanations can be seen on the School Building Committee website. See larger versions of the drawings by clicking on one of the images below:

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”89″ gal_title=”School concepts – Nov 2017″]

At the State of the Town, residents offered written comments, but others may use the SBC’s online feedback form. The form asks what viewers saw or heard that they liked, what they wished would be developed further, and what they wonder about, or what questions should be answered.

The SBC and architects will continue to gather public input and refine the concepts in the coming months. Residents will be asked to vote on a design concept at a special town meeting in June 2018. By that point, officials hope to have a plan that has “overwhelming community support. We don’t want to get to a vote in June and wonder what we missed,” said Chris Fasciano, chair of the SBC.

Community center

The Community Center Preliminary Planning and Design Committee (CCPPDC) recently hired Maryann Thompson Architects to work alongside SMMA and design a proposal for a community center. Their first step at State of the Town was to post “character study” photos of various community center interiors, exteriors, and landscapes and asked residents to jot down “gut reactions” on sticky notes with comments on the easels.

The architects are hoping for more detailed feedback via a “wish list” questionnaire on the CCPPDC website, which also includes the images shown on Saturday and an accompanying comment form. Residents are invited to download the questionnaire, answer whichever parts they wish, and email it back by noon on Friday, Nov. 10. The firm expects to have a proposed basic design along with “firm cost estimates” before the special town meeting in June, which will also address the school.

There are various advantages and disadvantages to having the community center physically connected to the school rather than on the Hartwell side, noted Town Administrator Tim Higgins. He briefly touched on some of those pluses and minuses as outlined by a group including the two school principals, Parks and Recreation Department Director Dan Pereira, Council on Aging Director Carolyn Bottum, and Administrator for Business and Finance Buck Creel.

Factors mitigating against having the two facilities side by side, according to their report:

  • There would be less space for athletic fields on the school side and the topography of the Hartwell side would also make it difficult to put a field there.
  • Sharing space would be impractical since the hours of operation of the school and community center would largely overlap.
  • The parking on the north and west side of campus would have to be significantly increased and the roadway network would have to be rethought.
  • There would be public safety and security concerns associated with keeping the various building users separate and out of restricted spaces.
Finances

The town can afford to borrow up to $80 million for the projects and still retain its AAA bond rating, said Andrew Payne, vice chair of the Finance Committee. Each $10 million borrowed would increase the tax bill by about $275–300 per year, depending on the interest rate. The current median tax bill is $13,600.

The FinCom’s debt financing subcommittee also recommends that the town should make bond payments that are more or less equal throughout a 30-year term. Some of the town’s debt stabilization fund, currently at $4.7 million, can be used to even out some of the tax bill impact in the first few years, Payne added.

Corrections

  • The November 2 article headlined “McLean lawsuit decision expected early next year” incorrectly stated whom attorney Michael Fee is representing in the McLean Hospital case. He is representing the Bypass Road neighbors/abutters; the town of Lincoln and the Zoning Board of Appeals are being represented by Jay Talerman of Mead, Talerman & Costa.
  • The October 30 article headlined “Initial design concepts for school to be presented” gave an incorrect start time for the State of the Town meeting on Saturday, Nov. 4. It will start at 9 a.m.

Both articles have been corrected online.

 

McLean lawsuit decision expected early next year

By Alice C. Waugh

A ruling in the trial that took place after McLean Hospital sued over the town’s denial of a permit to house patients at a property in Lincoln is expected this winter or early spring.

McLean filed suit after the Zoning Board of Appeals ruled in November 2016 that a residential program in dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) for teenage boys did not qualify as an “educational” use of the residential property at 16 and 22 Bypass Rd. A property is exempt from many local zoning regulations if its proposed new use is religious or educational.

The trial ended on October 10. Post-trial briefs are due on December 1, and “we would expect the court to issue a ruling anywhere between 30 and 90 days thereafter,” said attorney Michael Fee. Fee is representing a collection of Bypass Road neighborhood property owners as defendants.

According to a pretrial memorandum, the defendants planned to call Elizabeth Simpson, MD, director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston, as an expert witness. “She will opine that [McLean’s Lincoln] program is substantively identical to standard DBT programs practiced throughout the country as therapeutic medical treatment reimbursable by insurance, and does not, in her opinion, constitute a program where the educational component is primary or predominant,” according to the memo.

McLean was scheduled to call three expert witnesses. Dr. Alex Miller, co-author of three textbooks on DBT, was expected to testify that DBT has “an educational focus as taught by qualified professionals who follow highly structured curricula with specific lesson plans and homework assignments,” according to the memo. S. Paul Reville, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and former Massachusetts Secretary of Education, planned to testify that DBT elements are already included in many schools’ IEPs (individualized education programs) for students with special needs, and that “secondary education is moving towards a greater focus on social and emotional growth and skills of the type on which DBT focuses.”